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C. G. MELANSON. HEADLIGHT. APPLICATION man mu.zo.1921.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES G, MELANSON, OE LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS.

HEADLIGHT.

Application filed January 10, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES G. MELAN- soN, a citizen of the UnitedStates of America, and a resident of Lynn, in the county of Essex andState of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and usefulTmprovements in Headlights, of which the fol lowing is a specification.

This invention relates to headlights and particularly to' devices ofthis character which are used on motor vehicles to illuminate the roadin advance of the moving vehicle.

The main object of the invention is the production of a headlight whichwill project illuminating rays frorn'a given source directly forward anddownward and permit no rays to be projected upwardly into the eyes ofapproaching pedestrians or onto the Windshields of vehicles moving ineither direction in front of the headlight.

A further object of the invention is the provision of meansforconcentrating all the rays of'the headlight where they are most requiredthus conserving and utilizing all the rays from a given illuminatingsource.

The invention consists primarily in providing the upper part of theusual headlight with a detachable vizor and the lower part thereof witha detachable deflecting plate which is opaque and provided with abullseye extension in front of the illuminating source, both said vizorand plate having their inner faces mirrored to deflect therefrom therays from. the illuminating source backwardly to the reflector withinthe headlight casing from which reflector the rays are projectedforwardly and downwardly through a narrow horizontal space above thedeflecting plate and below the vizor.

The invention consists of certain novel features of construction andarrangement of parts which will be understood readily by reference tothe description of the drawings and to the claim to be hereinaftergiven.

For the purpose of illustrating the invention, one preferred formthereof is illustrated. in the drawings, this form having been found togive satisfactory and reliable results although it is to be understoodthat the various instrumentalities of which the invention consists canbe variously arranged and organized and the invention is not limited tothe precise arrangement and organization of these instrumentalities asherein Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 28, 1922.

Serial No. 436,144.

shown and described, except as required by the scope of the appendedclaim.

Of the drawings:

Figure 1 represents a front elevation of a headlight embodying theprinciples of the present invention.

Figure 2 represents a vertical section of the same-on line 2, 2, on ig.1.

Figure '3 represents a vertical section of a detachable vizor removedfrom the casing of the headlight, and

Figure 4 represents a perspective view of the detachable reflector plateremoved from the casing of the headlight.

Similar characters indicate like parts throughout the several figures ofthe drawings.

In the drawings 10 is the casing of a headlight provided with a mirroredinner face 11 and having secured therein the usual lamp or otherilluminating device 12.

In the'front of the casing 10 is positioned a clear lens 13 which isheld against the front edge of the casing 10 by means of the ring 14:extending over the periphery of the casing 10 and secured thereto in anywelllrnown manner.

The front portion 15 of the ring 1 1 is curved inwardly as shown in thedrawings and fitted into this curved portion 15 is the curved flange 16of a vizor 17, the lower edge 18 of which is substantially in the samehorizontal plane -with the upper part of the lamp 1 The rear face 19 ofthe vizoi' 1? is mirrored. I

By removing the ring 1 the vizor l'l'inay be readily detached from thecasing 10. v

The lower edge 18 extends in a straight line directly across the frontof the headlight and the main portion of the vizor 17 inclines upwardlyand rearwardly therefrom in a flat plane as indicated at 20.

Th vizor 17 has one side wall 21 the lower edge of which extendsdownwardly and rearwardly to the front face of the lens 13, this sidewall 21 being on the side of the vizor furthest away from the curb ofthe street over which the vehicle is moving.

The other side wall 21 hasits lower edge horizontal thereby permittingthe rays of light to be deflected outwardly towards the sidewalk.

It has been found in practice that in order to attain the desired resultthe vizor 17 must be positioned in front of the lens 13 at an anglethereto so that a portion of the rays from the lamp 12 and a portion ofthe rays reflected from the mirrored surface 11 striking the mirroredinner surface of the vizor 17 will be reflected backwardly against themirrored inner surface of the casing 10 from which said rays will againbe reflected forwardly. As a consequence of this duplex reflection, therays which are finally projected beyond the vizor 17, are greatlyintensified.

Positioned against the rear face of the lower half of the lens 13 is anopaque plate 22 having a bulls-eye extension 23 extending above itsupper edge, this bulls-eye extension being larger than and in alinementwith the lamp 12.

The opaque plate 22 is provided with a plurality of ears 24 whichextend'over the edge of the lens 13 and retain the plate "22 inposition.

It is obvious however, that by the removal of the ring 1d the opaqueplate 22 may be quickly detached from the lens when desired.

The rear face of the. plate'22 and bulls-eye disk 23 is mirrored andadapted to deflect the illuminating rays of the lamp 12 rearwardlyagainst the reflecting inner face 11 of the casing 10. i

The upper edge 25 of the plate 22 is substantially in the samehorizontal plane with the lower part of the lamp 12 thus leaving a clearspace between the edge 25 and the lower edge 18 of the vizor 17 oneither side of the bulls-eye disk 23.

This disk extension 23 prevents the lamp 12 from being seen by thedrivers of approaching vehicles.

The dotted line A, (see Fig. 2) indicates the area of the unobstructedilluminating rays as projected ahead from the improved headlight.

The dotted line B, (see Fig. 2) indicates the area of the unobstructedconcentrated reflected rays projected from the rear face of the vizor 17and-the mirrored upper portion of the reflector 11 on the casing 10.

By constructing the headlight in the manner herein described, it will beunderstood that when in use a portion of the rays from the lamp 12 willstrike the mirrored surface of the opaque plate 22 including thebullseye extension 23 and these rays will be deflected to the mirroredsurface 11 on the interior of the casing. V 4

Some ofthe rays will be deflected to the upper portion of the mirroredsurface 11 from which they will be deflected to the lower portion of themirrored surface 11 of the casing 10 and will then be deflected to themirrored surface 19 on the rear face of the vizor 17 where in turn theserays will be projected to that portion of the area B which is nearest tothe headlight.

the inside of the casing 10 and in turn will be projected to the portionof the area indicated by the dotted line B furthest removed from theheadlight.

A portion of the rays from the lamp 12 which strike the mirrored surfaceof the vizor 17 are projected to the portion of the area B nearest theheadlight while another portion of said rays are deflected to the lowerportion of the mirrored surface 11 on the interior of the casing '10 andthese. rays are in'turn deflected to the mirrored portion of theopaqueplate 22 from which theyare again deflected to that portion of themirrored surface 11 Which projects them to :the area indicated by thedotted liiieA.

Some of these rays from the lamp 12 are deflected from the opaque plate22 to .the upper portion of the mirrored surface 11 on the interior ofthe casing 10 and from thence are projected to the area indicated by thedotted line B.

This description of the means provided for deflecting and reflecting theilluminating rays by this'improved invention may be carried onindefinitely to disclose the fact that all of the available illuminatingrays are multiplied and concentrated Within a confined and limitedhorizontal area.

By the arrangement of the reflecting and deflecting mirrored surfaces,the candle power of the lamp is greatly multipliedand the rays therefromare all concentrated wherethey are most required.v At the same time theopaque barriers'provided in the headlight eliminate all illuminatingrays from the area outside of the specific area it is desired toilluminate.

The bulls eye extension 23 eliminates the direct glare of the lamp 12 asits rays are projected ahead into the area A.

By providing a mirrored surface on the rear of the extension 23 anincreased efliciency is produced just as if the illuminating pays werebeing projected 'from'two different amps.

In order to illuminate the side of the road nearest the curb or walk,the lowerportion of'one side 21 of the vizor17 iscut away so that therays from the mirrored surface on the opposite side 21 will be projectedtoward the curb or walk.

When this improved headlight is in use the illuminating rays therefromare never thrown upon an approaching windshield or in the eyes ofpedestrians or at any point above the normal waist line of an ordinaryperson standing in front of the light.

This is even true when the object which is ios illuminated is stationedat a considerable distance ahead of the source of illumination.

The rays of the light are at no time elevated by the distance projected.

It is believed that the operation and its many advantages will bereadily understood Without further description.

Having thus described my invention, I claim- The combination with acasing having a reflecting interior surface; a lamp therein; a clearlens in front of said lamp; a'vizor in front of the upper part of thelens adapted to reflect a portion of the lamp rays into the interior ofthe casing; and an opaque plate positioned against the inner face of thelower half of said lens and having a mirrored surface, the upper edge ofsaid plate Signed by me at 746 Old South Bldg, 25

Boston, Mass, this 8th day of January, 1921.

CHARLES G. MELANSON. Witnesses:

WALTER E. LoMBARn, NATHAN G. LOMBARD.

